The Obama Administration ruled that certain non-down sleeping bags should be removed from eligibility for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) because of complaints from U.S.-based Exxel Outdoors, which makes sleeping bags at its plant in Alabama for mass merchandisers.
Congress created the GSP program in the Trade Act of 1974 to help developing countries expand their economies by allowing certain goods to be imported to the United States duty-free. Exxel has been working successfully with U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, to have sleeping bags removed from GSP since December 2010, arguing those exported from Bangladesh were competing unfairly against those it make at its 250,000-square-foot factory in Alabama.
